Lalit Modi offers to be interrogated in London

Modi has offered to make himself available in London for interrogation by ED and said he would bear the expenses of personnel travelling to London.

Written by Press Trust of India

Read Time: 2 mins

Mumbai:

Former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi has offered to make himself available in London for interrogation by Enforcement Directorate and said he would bear the expenses of ED personnel travelling to the British capital to question him for alleged FEMA violations by IPL franchises.

"Its nothing new and from day one we have been saying that he's willing to be interrogated. Now Modi is willing to bear the cost of ED's appropriately authorised Commission to interrogate him in the Indian High Commission in London," Abdi said.

Maintaining that the Modi camp was fully co-operating in the investigations, Abdi said such an action was permissible under section 131 of the Income Tax Act.

"The ED authorities can appoint a Commission to take statement and collect information. It's not anything new and is permissible under the law," he said.

"The offer is that he will be available for questioning for as many days as they want in London. The other alternative is through video conferencing," Abdi said.

"The only reason for all these is because Modi faced a threat to his life in India, which is known to the Mumbai police".

The ED has already issued a Blue Notice - an international alert to law enforcement agencies to obtain information about a person's identity and activities --against Modi in its probe into the finances of the Twenty20 league.

Modi, who was suspended as IPL Chairman by the BCCI in April, is facing charges ranging from financial irregularities to rigging bids, proxy holdings and kickbacks in broadcast deals.

He is also facing an internal BCCI probe from a three-member disciplinary panel headed by Chirayu Amin, with Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia being the other two members.

BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan has also filed a complaint with the Chennai Police earlier this month against Modi alleging criminal misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 470 crore on issues including media rights and free commercial rights.

The Chennai Police has registered a case against Modi and six others under different sections of IPC including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts and cheating.